.png&type=webp)
Sunday, September 13
Bowling Green, Ohio
1:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
2
vs
0
Youngstown State
Keely Chandler (left) knocks home her second goal of the day
Happy Feet: Falcons Down Penguins, 2-0
September 13, 2009 | Women's Soccer
The Bowling Green State University women's soccer team returned to winning ways Sunday afternoon (Sept. 13), getting a brace -- that's two goals, don'tcha know -- from freshman Keely Chandler in a 2-0 win over Youngstown State University. The non-conference match was held at Cochrane Field on the BGSU campus.
* BGSU 2, YOUNGSTOWN STATE 0 - Final Stats
* BGSU 2, YOUNGSTOWN STATE 0 - PDF Boxscore
With the win, the Falcons improve to 4-3-0 overall, while dropping the Penguins to 2-4-1.
Chandler scored in each half, for the first and second goals of her young career. Her first collegiate goal came with under five minutes left before halftime, and she doubled her team's lead in the 71st minute of the match.
At the other end of the pitch, redshirt junior Alexa Arsenault and redshirt freshman Becca Ison combined for the shutout in net. Arsenault played the first half, making one save, while Ison also had one stop in her 45 minutes of relief work.
"We are very happy to get the win and also to record another shutout, particularly after the disappointing performance of Friday," said BGSU head coach Andy Richards, whose team rebounded after seeing a school-record 11-match home unbeaten streak come to an end with Friday's loss to St. Bonaventure.
"I am especially pleased for Keely Chandler to be the first freshman to score a goal for us this year, and also to back it up with a second one in the second half. Keely's performance is symptomatic of our team, I think, in that we are still young in the season, and we are starting to make an impact."
There were very few serious scoring chances for the bulk of the first half. Relatively early on, a YSU defensive miscommunication put several Falcons in all alone. Several Penguin defenders appeared to be expecting an offsides call that never came. But, the BG offense was unable to convert the chance into a shot on goal.
Midway through the half, YSU's Geneva Strelka made a nifty cutback move to elude a defender, and fired a shot from about 15 yards out. But, her shot was directly at Arsenault.
With just over 12 minutes left before halftime, senior Carolyn Nesline's corner kick was blocked by a Youngstown defender stationed at the near post. The YSU player blocked the ball with her chest, but was unable to clear it. In the resulting flurry, however, the Falcons could not get a clear shot. Attempts by junior Alicia Almond and sophomore Kelsey Kovacs were blocked, and a Nesline effort sailed just wide of the left post.
With seven minutes remaining in the half, YSU's top scorer, Kara Cooper got free for a shot, but it was blocked out of bounds.
Finally, the Falcons got on the scoreboard at the 40:52 mark. The play began when junior Katie Stephenson slid a pass to her right, finding Almond approximately 30 to 35 yards away from goal. Almond played a beautiful diagonal ball toward the left post, and Chandler headed it back past YSU 'keeper Nicole Kline, across the goalmouth and into the far (right) corner of the vacated net. Almond and Stephenson picked up assists on the play.
In the second half, the Falcons had a chance nearly 10 minutes in. Sophomore Alyssa Zuccaro and junior Meagan Moran executed a give-and-go play, and Zuccaro eluded a defender along the touch line after receiving Moran's return pass. Zuccaro headed toward the goal from the right side, and slid another pass to Moran, who fired a hard shot on goal. But, Kline was able to make the stop.
Fifteen minutes into the period, sophomore Leah Johnson played a left-side crossing ball into the box, and Zuccaro got a head on it as Kline collided with her. But, offsides had been called.
A wacky sequence, the result of numerous deflections, occurred less than three minutes later. The Falcon flurry ended with soph Katelyn Turner shooting wide to the near post. And, several minutes after that, a give-and-go play between seniors Colleen Kordan and Jen Czapka resulted in a long Kordan blast that sailed just wide left.
With just under 20 minutes left, however, the Falcons struck again. Amann took a pass from Johnson and played a ball from the left side of the pitch. The ball sailed over Kline and struck the corner of the goal where the far (right) post meets the crossbar. The ball rang off the frame, struck Kline and hit the ground. Chandler, lurking on the doorstep, was the first one there to tap the ball into the goal.
The Penguins had several more chances over the remaining 19:47, but could not put a ball past Ison. Only a minute after the BG goal, Cooper slid a pass to Taylor Pickens, but her hard one-timer went high.
Then, with under three minutes left, YSU's Rochelle Boone drilled a long shot, but it was right at Ison, who made the stop to preserve the shutout. Boone's effort was the final shot attempt for either team on the afternoon.
The Falcons had 20 shots to the Penguins' six, and BG had a 5-2 margin in shots on goal. Kline made three saves for the visitors. BG also had eight corner kicks to the Penguins' two.
"There are still a lot of things that we want to work on, because that is a product of the high expectations that we have within the program," said Richards. "But, we also have a lot of things going well right now. As I said, we are very happy with Keely's performance today, and also with the way the team is beginning to come together."
BGSU now hits the road for the next six matches, beginning with a pair of contests in California next weekend. The Brown and Orange will head to Riverside, Calif., taking on UC Riverside and UC Irvine. BG's next home match does not come until Friday, Oct. 9.
"We are excited for the upcoming trip," said Richards. "We have two very tough games in California before we get into conference play. We are looking forward to challenging ourselves and seeing where we stand against a couple of out-of-region opponents."
FALCON NOTES
* Freshman Keely Chandler's first-half goal marked the first points of her young BGSU career ... obviously, Sunday also was her first two-goal game with the Falcons.
* It marked the first multiple-goal game by a BGSU player this season ... the Falcons had not had a player score two goals in a game since Nov. 1, 2007 ... on that date, Meagan Moran scored a pair of late goals to give the Falcons a 2-1 win at Toledo.
* The last two-goal game by a BG player at Cochrane Field had come on Sept. 30, 2007, as Danielle Cygan scored twice in a 3-1 win over Western Michigan.
* Redshirt junior Alexa Arsenault's lone save on Sunday was the 200th of her career ... she is just the third BGSU goalkeeper to reach that plateau, joining Erika Flanders (473) and Ali Shingler (334).
* Junior Alicia Almond's assist on Chandler's first-half goal was the first of her BGSU career ... Almond now has five career points, having scored a goal in each of her first two seasons with the Brown and Orange.
* Junior Katie Stephenson assisted on that same goal ... Stephenson's assist was her first of the season and the sixth of her career.
* Sophomores Megan Amann and Leah Johnson assisted on Chandler's second goal of the day ... for Amann, the assist was her second of the season and the 10th of her career ... Amann is the Falcons' active career leader in assists.
* Johnson's assist was her team-leading third of the season and the fourth of her Falcon career.
* BGSU now leads Youngstown State, 5-0-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... each of the Falcons' last three wins in the series have been shutouts ... overall, BG has outscored the Penguins, 23-3, in the five games.
Chris Fox Post-Match Interview (Sept. 7, 2025)
Sunday, September 07
Taylor Green Post-Match Interview (Sept. 7, 2025)
Sunday, September 07
Emma Stransky Post-Match Interview (Sept. 7, 2025)
Sunday, September 07
Off The Pitch: Chris Fox (Sept. 5, 2025)
Saturday, September 06